The Portuguese Council of Ministers approved last June 15, 2022, new diplomas regarding the mobility of foreign workers.
The new type of visa is directed towards the seeking of work and allows the entry into Portuguese territory of nationals from foreign states who come to seek work for a period of 120 days, extendable for a period of 60 more days (a total of 180 days). On the other hand, a temporary stay or residence visa will also be granted to digital nomads – workers who only need a computer or tablet to carry out their professional activity, being able to do so anywhere in the world. Also, British citizens, through biometric data, will have access to everything that other citizens have, in spite of the Brexit.
For families, the Portuguese government proposes to simplify migration, with the granting of visas and residence permits for those accompanying family members already holding a visa or a residence permit. University students already enrolled in Portuguese universities will not need to request a visa from SEF (Portuguese Immigration and Borders Service), as was the case until then – “It makes no sense that higher education students want to study here but have to depend on this visa for a lengthy period of time. Therefore, the SEF’s prior opinion for this type of visa will be dispensed with, as long as the applicant is already admitted in the educational institution in national territory”, justifies the Portuguese Minister of State and Parliamentary Affairs, Ana Catarina Mendes.
Within the scope of the concession of temporary stay visas and residence visas for citizens covered by the agreement of the Community of Portuguese Language Countries (CPLP), there is now a facilitation in the issuing of visas. “The consulate can directly consult the Schengen information system, and the SEF’s prior opinion, which the law used to give, is now dispensed with.
The new measures are part of a diploma approved on Wednesday, June 15, by the Portuguese Council of Ministers, and are aimed at speeding up, simplifying and reducing bureaucracy in the mobility of migrant workers, as well as the objective of responding to the labour shortage that is being felt in Portugal.
Within this subject, the following diplomas referring to workers’ mobility were approved:
1. Alteration to the legal regime for the entry, stay, exit and removal of foreigners from national territory.
This alteration is one of the first steps towards achieving the objectives enshrined in the Agreement on Mobility between the Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) and allows it to be applied to all Member States as they deposit their instruments of ratification.
Equally, this amendment establishes procedures to attract immigrants in a regulated and integrated manner that places Portugal in line with the Programme of the XXIII Constitutional Government.
It also implements in the internal legal order Regulations (EU) 2018/1860, 2018/1861 and 2018/1862 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 28 November 2018 on the establishment, operation, and use of the Schengen Information System (SIS).
2. Decree-Law amending the Highway Code so as to enable, in certain cases, holders of driving licences issued by Member States of the Community of Portuguese Speaking Countries (CPLP) and the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to drive motor vehicles, dispensing with the exchange of driving licences, on an equal footing with holders of driving licences issued by Member States of the European Union;
3. Decree approving the Agreement between the Portuguese Republic and the Kingdom of Morocco on the work and the stay of Moroccan Workers in the Portuguese Republic, signed in Lisbon and Rabat, which defines the procedures for the admission of Moroccan citizens for the performance of a professional activity, under a work contract, in Portugal.
Leonor Frazão Grego @ DCM | Littler
